One of the notable changes in our social environment in the 20th and 21st centuries has been the infiltration of our culture and everyday life by the media. In general, researchers define violence in the media as visual representations of the physical aggression of a human or human-like character against another.
Unfortunately, violence is one of the most popular forms of entertainment; more than 60% of our primetime television shows contain some form of violence in some form or more. Most studies show that the relationship between media violence and “real” violence is interactive: the media can contribute to an aggressive culture; already aggressive people use the media as further confirmation of their beliefs and attitudes, which, in turn, are reinforced through media content.
“The effects of the media are cumulative, subtle, and insidious and occur over a long period of time,” said Dr. Victor C Strasbourg, an expert on children and the media at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. . He believes that the media, which “has become a kind of electronic parenting”, is “one of the most powerful influences on children and adolescents that we know and that, unfortunately, we do not appreciate” by most of the people.
Exposure to media violence can have short- and long-term effects on our children and adults. Prepared concepts make the behaviors that are linked to them more likely, when the media prepares the aggressive concept, aggression is more likely. Media violence can elicit aggressive behavior in the short term most likely for two possible reasons which are transference of arousal and general arousal. In recent years it has been observed that humans and primates have a tendency to imitate everything they observe. Similarly, when children observe violent behavior, they are more likely to imitate it. On the other hand, the long-term content effects are due to observational learning of cognition and behaviors and the activation and desensitization of emotional processes.
It seems to me more likely that spending more time watching television means less time for social activities and this is what causes aggression. Aggression proportionally causes violence that creates antisocial individuals who withdraw from society. These types of people then engage in other psychological and harmful activities. Parents should monitor their children’s activities and change in behaviors while mimicking the aggression they are exposed to while watching television. The media carry on their shoulders the duty to inform the masses and make them aware of their basic rights in a positive way.